English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 25 November 2022 — Now in the middle of my life, a little older, perhaps a little wiser, I reread with new eyes that sight. If it was ever otherwise, I have already forgotten it, but now, with the mists of the past gone, behind those eyes I see only a coward. … Continue reading “Fidel Castro: Bury the Myth With the Ashes / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Translator’s Note: The screenshot above is taken from a social media post in 2021 by the Archipelago Collective. The essay below by Jeovany Jiménez Vega appeared on his blog on November 9, 2021, six days before the originally-scheduled date of a protest planned by the organization. 15 November 2021 Civic March for Change The regime’s response … Continue reading “November 15: Chronicle of a War Foretold / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jiminez Vega, 30 May 2021 — It was nearly a month ago that Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was arrested in this home and taken by force to Calixto García hospital in Havana, where he has been kept by Cuban State Security. The lying officials have published various manipulated videos showing a disoriented and confused … Continue reading “Why Can Cuba Keep Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara Locked Up? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 11 July 2022 — There are days in life that are never forgotten. Bright days, like when you are given a son, or as gloomy as the one that takes a loved one away from you; whether fateful or sublime these days will always be, like treasured jewels until the end of … Continue reading “One Year After July 11: The Necessary Reminiscence / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 3 December 2021 — Things are going very badly in a country where any citizen can be punished with impunity for exercising their right to speak freely, something contrary to the constitutional norms that have been pillars of democracy for the last 25 centuries. When this aberration becomes a frequent practice, we … Continue reading “Pride as a Philosophy; Brutality as a Currency / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 22 November 2021 — Yunior García Aguilera was showered with caustic criticism once his departure for Spain was confirmed. These scathing accusations find their foundation, I believe, in that mental conditioning imposed by decades of Castroism according to which any departure from the country will necessarily be potentially final. In a country … Continue reading “Yunior Garcia and Archipielago: Between Messianism and the Wall / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 9 August 2021 — Sandalio, in your diatribe against the embargo, there are a couple of points which aren’t logical – nor ethical either, but let’s stay with logical – because they have been definitively refuted by events. The embargo is not all that inviolable when the Cuban government has never stopped … Continue reading “The Lifting of the Cuban Embargo: A Necessary Commentary / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 20 August 2021 — I have always thought it is a lie that there are apolitical Cubans. When I hear a fellow countryman say, whether on the island, or in exile, that that politics are not their thing, and that when they send money back home and guarantee food on their family’s … Continue reading “Are There Any Apolitical Cubans? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, Ciudadano Cero, 31 August 2021 — Prefabricated speeches, like the one from Cristina Escobar to Mr. Handpicked [Cuban president Díaz-Canel] on August 19th — in a delayed transmission prudently edited by Cuban TV — always drip the same deceit: the minutes fly by and you only hear the nonsense surrounding the edges … Continue reading “Cristina Escobar’s Stupid Performance Before Cuban President Diaz-Canel / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jiminez Vega, 24 July 2021 — “Our enemy follows one plan: to anger us, scatter us, divide us, drown us. That’s why we must follow another plan: to demonstrate our greatness, to come together, join each other, outwit them, to finally make our homeland free. Plan against plan.” What did July 11th mean for … Continue reading “Cuba: Following July 11th, Now What? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
“Citizen Zero,” Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 20 July 2021 — Throughout last week a hornet’s nest buzzed in my temples and I didn’t have a minute’s rest from ruminating on so much news and thinking about my long-suffering Cuba. I was moved to the core by that flood of people that swept away in a few hours more … Continue reading “11th of July: Day of National Dignity / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 14 July 2021 — July 11, 2021 entered Cuban history through the front door when the dignified spark ignited in San Antonio de los Baños spread throughout the rest of the island: in a few hours more than fifty Cuban cities, from east to west, rose spontaneously in a massive outcry and millions of … Continue reading “July 11 in Cuba: The Hour of the Homeland / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 14 April 2021 — The controversy is useful: there are recent high-octane videos circulating in the social network where we can hear certain activists, or rather another chorus of Habaneros (people from Havana), who rant and rave in the street, hurling insults at the police and at (Cuban president) Diaz-Canel himself, and every day … Continue reading “When Anger is Not Enough / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 10 February 2021 — These days we are witnessing the most recent Castroist sleight-of-hand: the Cuban government has just announced that it has eliminated the list that defined the activities authorized to be carried out by the private sector — called “One’s Own Account” (Self-Employment) due to a phobia of this “cursed … Continue reading “Castroism’s Sleight-of-Hand Tricks / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 24 July 2020 — A few days ago the government of Diaz-Canel slipped us all a surprise. Finally, after multiple postponements we got to the long-awaited end to dual currency, and, so in order that we didn’t complain, in effect, there will be no more circulation of TWO (national) currencies in our country, … Continue reading “Dual Currency in Cuba Goes from Two to Three / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
